Speedy Settlement of Differences Sought in Nuclear Talks: Iran’s Araqchi
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The latest round of nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany is aimed at narrowing differences and expediting the process of reaching a final deal on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi said.
“We want to speed up the process and find a solution to the existing differences as soon as possible,” Araqchi told reporters on Thursday morning, ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks in Turkey.
Deputy foreign ministers from Iran and the European members of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) have started one-day nuclear talks in Istanbul.
The talks are part of regular meetings between Iran and the members of the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) which are negotiating to settle a decade-long standoff on Tehran’s nuclear case.
Araqchi said the Iranian diplomatic team will hold bilateral and trilateral meetings with delegations from the European countries –Germany, Britain and France.
“The legal and nuclear experts accompany us. They hold their own meetings and explore the subjects in more details. If necessary, they (experts) attend our (diplomatic) meetings as well and express their views,” Araqchi explained.
Iran and the six world powers are in talks to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
In November 2013, they signed an interim deal –the Joint Plan of Action- in Geneva that took effect on January 20, 2014 and expired six months later. They later extended the deal until November 24, 2014.
After failing to hammer out a lasting accord by the self-imposed November 24 deadline, the parties once again decided to extend the deadline for more seven months.
